Escalating War Won't Help Syrian Children

Contact:
Jodie Evans, Co-founder, CODEPINK, heartofj@gmail.com
Paula Kahn, CODEPINK LA,  818-667-8800, tribunal@codepink.org

Los Angeles, CA Friday, April 7th, 2017- Protests and demonstrations are popping up across the world to denounce president trumps lip to military escalation in Syria without approval from Congress after a chemical attack killed so many people. The attack has not been thoroughly investigated and given trumps earlier statement this week of non-interventionist policy towards Syria, there is widespread skepticism for the sudden change of heart given that Trump has no problem with war crimes committed by the US in neighboring countries, such as Yemen.

CODEPINK is putting the call out for people to rise for Syrian people and against military escalation to turn up locally in protest of these actions. Join us in the Wilshire Federal Building and Pershing Square in Los Angeles, CA today at 5pm to denounce the military escalation and to call for negotiations brokered by Russia. Military escalation and asserting dominance through air strikes does not de-escalate or demilitarize a highly militarized and fragmented conflict, especially when there are masses of civilians to keep in mind.

“This recent chemical attack is just the latest in a war that has taken the lives of over 400,000 Syrians. If the Trump administration decides to escalate US military involvement by bombing the Syrian government’s power centers of Damascus and Aleppo and pushing rebel fighters to hold territory for a new government, the carnage—and chaos—will increase,” Ann Wright and Medea Benjamin stated.

There is a big human cost of military escalation and there is only one way to address this: peace. Peace would mean lifting Trump’s ban on Syrian refugees entering the United States, calling for a ceasefire, providing greater financial support for the humanitarian crisis, and fully supporting the ongoing investigation of the chemical weapons attack and working with the international community to bring the perpetrators to justice.